Pool playing transfer market waiting game

William Watt

Paul Ince admits Blackpool are playing the transfer market waiting game, whether he likes it or not.

The Seasiders are down to the bare bones at present and had to call on 17-year-old youth team winger Dion Charles to fill the bench on Saturday.

Manager Ince said: “Because we’ve decided to wait and see which players don’t make the Premier League clubs’ 25-man squads, it’s now become a waiting game.”

Pool almost signed Bolton’s Keith Andrews on a season-long loan on Friday only for the midfielder to opt for a move to Brighton.

Despite their problems, Ince’s men sit second in the Championship table after two wins out of two, although it took a last-minute own goal to seal Saturday’s 1-0 win over Barnsley in the first match of the season at Bloomfield Road.

Boss Ince says Pool need to act much quicker if they want to land their targets. He added: “It’s all about timing. You need to move quickly to get these players in and we haven’t done that.

“We’ve waited and waited, and the players end up going elsewhere. Every day me and (assistant) Alex Rae are making calls and trying to bring players in.”

Injuries to Matt Phillips, Angel Martinez and Nathan Eccleston, along with the suspension of Tom Ince, have left the club woefully short all over the field.

Ince told The Gazette: “It doesn’t a genius to see where we are short. Maybe if we keep winning the chairman will tell me we don’t need any players, so maybe we need to start losing.

“We need to get some players in, but you want to bring in quality and there’s not a lot around.”

And Ince claims that is hampering even the biggest clubs in the world.

“Arsenal and Manchester United have money to burn but can’t get anyone in, so it just shows you that even at the highest level it’s tough to bring players in.

“I want the right players but it’s hard to do that when you are chasing players and panicking.

“But you can see we need bodies big time. Most teams have their players in, have them integrated into their culture, but we haven’t.

“All I can do is sit down with the chairman and try to get the right players in.”